About Ellyn Satter

MS, MSSW

Ellyn Satter is a dietitian, family therapist, and internationally recognized authority on eating and feeding. In her presentations, books, videos, teaching materials, articles, and social media, Satter shares the wisdom of her 50 years’ experience and research in helping with eating and feeding. Satter’s 2026 book, Ellyn Satter’s Child of Mine: Nurturing a Confident and Joyful Eater,  the same as her other books, is accessible, practical, and entertaining enough for parents and sophisticated and research-based enough for professionals. Satter’s books are available in all bookstores and online book sellers.

Ellyn pioneered the Satter Eating Competence Model (ecSatter), the Satter Feeding Dynamics Model (fdSatter) and created the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR), which is the gold standard for feeding children. In her transformative, practical, theoretically sound, and evidence-based conceptualizations of eating and feeding, Satter emphasizes the mentally, medically, and nutritionally sound principles of competency rather than deficiency, providing rather than depriving, and trust rather than control.

During her earlier professional years, Ellyn specialized in psychodynamic psychotherapy in the symptom management of eating disorders, and ran Ellyn Satter Associates, which provided resources for professionals and the public in the area of eating and feeding.  These days, she is a the founder and consultant for the Ellyn Satter Institute.

Ellyn continues to publish and consult, dedicating herself to mentoring both parents and professionals. Practical, warm and empowering, she helps nutrition, health, and mental health professionals to identify and correct eating and feeding distortions and allow the people they advise to gain eating competence.

A sampling of Satter’s books 

• Ellyn Satter’s Child of Mine: Nurturing a Confident and Joyful Eater. 2026 
• Feeding with Love and Good Sense: The First Two Years. 2025
• Feeding with Love and Good Sense: 18 months through six years. 2025
• Feeding with Love and Good Sense: 6 through 13 years. 2025
• Feeding with Love and Good Sense: 12 through 18 years. 2025 
• Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family: How to Eat, How to Raise Good Eaters, How to Cook. 2008
• Your Child’s Weight: Helping Without Harming (Birth through Adolescence. 2005
• Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense.  2000
• How to Get Your Kid To Eat…But Not Too Much. 1987